Indian IT major HCL Technologies today has announced that it will acquire select IBM software for an all-cash deal of around Rs 12,700 crore. HCL in its BSE filings said: “IBM and HCL Technologies (HCL) today announced a definitive agreement under which HCL will acquire select IBM software products for $1.8 billion. The transaction is expected to close by mid-2019, subject to completion of applicable regulatory reviews.”

The software products to be acquired by HCL Tech will be in areas of marketing, commerce, security and collaboration and includes: Appscan- for secure application development, BigFix- for secure device management, Notes & Domino for email and low-code rapid application development and Connections for workstream collaboration.

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The three software that are on-premise includes Unica for marketing automation, Commerce for omni-channel eCommerce and Portal for digital experience. According to the statement, the deal that includes these seven softwares, “ in scope represent a total addressable market of more than $50 billion.”

HCL Tech Chief Financial Officer Prateek Aggarwal in an interview to PTI said that the deal also entails transfer of IBM employees, but the number hasn’t been disclosed yet. John Kelly, IBM senior vice president, Cognitive Solutions and Research, stated: “We believe the time is right to divest  these select collaboration, marketing and commerce software assets, which are increasingly delivered as stand-alone products.”

He also added, “ At the same time, we believe these products are a strong strategic fit for HCL, and that HCL is well positioned to drive innovation and growth for their customers.”